Buoyancy and gravity, light and darkness, illusion and reality, revenge and forgiveness. The opposites swirl about in perfect symmetry in Shakespeare's last work "The Tempest," currently offered by the Portland Shakespeare Project at Artists Repertory Theatre.

The stars are aligned and the talent flows in this glowing production, which features a female magician Prospero — here Prospera (played the multitalented Linda Alper) — who marries off her daughter (with magic? We're not sure), learns to curb her temper, relinquish her magic and forgive her enemies.

It's also a story, a comedy, about land grabbing, in this case, island grabbing, with everyone coveting the magical spot. Shakespeare's idea for the play supposedly traces back to William Strachey, a writer who experienced a hurricane and shipwreck off Bermuda in 1609, when heading for the Virginia colony, and lived to tell the tale back in England.

Highlights: So much to choose from. Atmospheric pre-show music offered by sound designer Sharath Patel, including dissonant pieces by the Kronos Quartet. A stage design by Nathan Crone that allowed different layers of action to take place simultaneously. Mike Dunay as a white-clad Ariel (costumer Sarah Gahagan gives him scales), a kind of surfer turned spirit, and Matthew Kerrigan's marvelous yoga-practicing Caliban also shines. Broad comic moments from Sam Dinkowitz's drunken servant Stephano and Adrienne Flagg in another gender-changed role as the wobbly sexpot Antonia, Prospera's no-good sister, add much.

Low notes: None that I could find.

Most valuable performer: There are many characters to like, but basically Alper's it, with her marvelous range from vicious snarlings to tender musings. She anchors the piece, as she swishes restlessly about in satiny trousers and tunic. She's a no-nonsense Prospera, in charge with a vengeance, yet a softie who grows in wisdom and goodness as the play unfolds. It's wonderful to see her transformation, and director Michael Mendelson has encouraged some lovely humorous bits for her character.

Line of the night: "Hell is empty, and all the devils are here."

Best moment: When Prospera relinquishes her magic at the end, gently, sadly and speaking some of Shakespeare's most beautiful language beginning with "Our revels now are ended." She describes the insubstantiality of her conjured spirits, and of life itself.

Biggest surprise: Ferdinand (Joshua Weinstein) is carrying logs for Prospera, but the log he picks up is Ariel, obviously disguised.

Mike Dunay as ArielDavid Kinder

Comedy abounds, but the deeper messages are clear in this production, and so lyrically presented that we're laughing one minute and misty-eyed the next. Life is temporal, even for people with power and magic. Forgiveness and redemption are the great cleansers. "We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep."